Seattle-based SHED Structure & Design has created a complementary two-story bunkhouse for an current household cabin on Guemes Island, Washington. Nestled on an idyllic website with sweeping views of the Bellingham Channel, this new bunkhouse gives further sleeping quarters for the proprietor’s 100–12 months–outdated log cabin, which might now not accommodate her rising household. Designed for relaxation, quiet work, and lasting reminiscences, this new bunkhouse is meant to be handed down within the household for generations to come back.
The bunkhouse is positioned lower than ten toes uphill from the household’s log cabin, roughly 150 toes up the sloping website from the shoreline. The cabin was initially constructed on Lopez Island and was later dismantled and floated over to Guemes Island within the Nineteen Forties. For years this charming 450-square-foot cottage supplied simply sufficient house, however with an increasing household and never eager to demolish the prevailing beachfront cabin, the one possibility was to assemble a compact bunkhouse behind the cabin. It was solely to offer sleeping quarters, the thought was that the household might collect on the cabin collectively for high quality time.
DESIGN DETAILS: ARCHITECT SHED Structure & Design STRUCTURAL ENGINEER Todd Perbix INTERIOR DESIGNÂ Jennie Gruss Inside Design CONTRACTOR Kaplan Houses Limitless
Distinctive to neighboring properties, the cabin is located simply contained in the treeline as an alternative of on the water’s edge. The consequence feels personal and secluded whereas capturing views to the west. The brand new bunkhouse mirrors this technique, positioned to reduce disturbance to the forested website and body views from the second ground.Â
The brand new bunkhouse is positioned above an current properly home that had run dry. One main side of the venture, along with making a construction that accommodates family and friends, was to decommission the properly and set up a rainwater catchment and potable water system. A brand new septic system is put in uphill of the bunkhouse and out of the floodplain to make sure the system will higher stand up to local weather change and rising sea ranges. Tying the bunkhouse to infrastructure initiatives is vital to the long-term use of the property.
This system referred to as for comfortably accommodating as many household and associates as doable in a compact construction with water views. Necessities included a mudroom, rest room, small kitchenette, and a workspace on the bottom ground, together with three sleeping areas on the higher degree. The slender lot and current bushes drive a compact, two-story answer, with the profit that the higher degree seems to be over the cabin to the water.
A lined porch results in the bunkhouse entry and decrease degree comprised of a kitchenette, a built-in desk, and a toilet designed to accommodate a number of customers concurrently. A central set of stairs results in a second-floor sitting space designed round a big skylight affording views of the forest cover and Bellingham Channel. Flanking the social house on both finish are sleeping quarters.
The bunkhouse is designed to reference the country log cabin and the half-round log siding on the unique properly home. Two kinds of exterior cladding distinguish the decrease and higher halves: Disdero Cabin Log Siding on the decrease degree and 1×6 Tongue and Groove Tough Sawn Western Pink Cedar Ship Cladding on the higher degree, each stained black. The profile of the log siding impressed curved particulars on the rafter tails and bunk mattress ladders.
The design incorporates low-maintenance supplies together with stainless-steel, plywood, and sheet marmoleum, and employs built-in casework all through. A horizontal strip of home windows frames the forest as occupants transfer up the steps to the second ground.
The U-shaped sitting space is designed for informal dialog, a quiet place to learn a ebook, and when wanted, can comfortably sleep three. On both aspect, wooden screens supply privateness for the 2 sleeping wings, every outfitted with a built-in queen mattress, bunkbed, and storage options.

Above: Within the mudroom, the flooring is an eco-friendly Marmoleum.
The bunkhouse’s gable roof references the unique cabin’s conventional type whereas its asymmetrical overhang formally accommodates the second-floor sitting space and collects water for the potable water system.Â
What We Love: This two-story bunkhouse gives a household with heat and welcoming sleeping lodging for gathering throughout holidays and celebrations. The design is easy, and understated with an awesome location on the hillside to soak within the views of the Bellingham Channel. We love the general idea and the way practical this compact house is. A beautiful household getaway residence that can absolutely be loved for a few years to come back.
Inform Us: Would this rustic cabin and bunkhouse be your thought of the last word household getaway residence? Tell us why or why not within the Feedback beneath!
Be aware: You’ll want to take a look at a few different sensational residence excursions that now we have showcased right here on One Kindesign within the state of Washington: Superb Washington forest home with a metal tower workplace on practice tracks and A nature-inspired cabin retreat protrudes over the forest on Puget Sound.
Above: On the high of the steps, a built-in seating space is illuminated by pure gentle courtesy of a giant skylight. The snug cushions double as twin mattresses, offering further sleeping house. Plywood is used for the built-in furnishings together with the inside partitions and flooring.
PHOTOGRAPHER Dain Susman Photograph